Novel Living

In Novel Living, Lisa Occhipinti presents her ideas for preserving, collecting and displaying intact books and also deconstructing them to make craft projects. In the first chapter, Occhipinti walks readers through the basics of how to start a collection and how to identify a book's value. In chapter 2, we learn what it means to "live with books"--how to display books beautifully in our homes by building a library, creating motifs and even constructing innovative shelving from scratch. The third chapter is all about how to preserve books, from repairing a spine and mending a torn page, to step-by-step instructions for creating protective slip cases. In the fourth and final chapter, Occhipinti provides readers with two types of craft projects--those that can be done without destroying the book and those where the book must be deconstructed. The projects that preserve books use simple scanning and photocopying techniques to make the projects (for instance, scanning favourite book covers or illustrations and having them printed onto fabric to make a table runner and napkins). Most of the projects require no more than a craft knife and a glue gun and can be completed by novice crafters. Gorgeous illustrations and photographs will be included throughout this classic-looking hard cover book.